A couple months ago, I got a phone call from an artist I’ve known for over 30 years. I can easily verify that we first met before `1993 because that was the year that VEHEMENCE, my spoken word CD, was released by New Alliance Records. Audri did the cover art for it without asking for any payment. She also produced art for a subsequent collection of recordings that New Alliance never released.
I’m not sure what the exact occasion might have been at which we first met, but I was the guest poet in an artist critique group that visited each other’s studios back in the early 1990s. Audri is still working as an artist and as an organizer. Her latest project is “LADIES OF COURAGE,” which will be a weekend of visual artists and poetry at a park in West Hollywood. It will take place on Saturday and Sunday, March 25 and March 26.
Although the West Hollywood cultural affairs department has given her a grant of %5,000 to help produce this event, all of that money has been channeled back to the city in terms of permits and infrastructure.
Website: www.ladiesofcourage.com
Instagram is: ladies.of.courage (no dot at the end just around the of)
The Go Fund Me link: https://gofund.me/df3098bc
Facebook location for Ladies of Courage https://www.facebook.com/groups/704550394609372
info@ladiesofcourage.com
PROJECT STATEMENT
LADIES OF COURAGE
FESTIVITIES
PERFORMANCES, PROJECTIONS, MUSIC POETRY, and DANCE
March 25-March 26
West Hollywood Park, 647 N. San Vicente Blvd. West Hollywood, California.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Mapping buildings and walls has become in recent decades a very exciting and inspiring art form. The works that are projected will be only limited by the creativity and imagination of the artists involved. Some pieces will provide interactivity with the audience. One wall will be dedicated to a projection of names of ladies of courage. Several buildings that rim the park have walls facing into the park, The Abbey Restaurant and Night Club and the Ariana Rug Company. From Sunset until 10 pm each night there will be animations and videos projected onto these walls. There will be original music and dance.
POETRY
Seven large beautiful well spaced trees in the park will be designated by banners and given the name of a lady of courage. During the daytime hours from 2pm until sunset on each day we will schedule poets and musicians to perform original works under the seven trees. A dance performance will also be scheduled. Attendees will be given a map of the tree locations and schedule of performances so they can wander freely from tree to tree. Our largest seven sponsors will be invited to each sponsor a tree.
About Audri Phillips
Audri Phillips is a visual poet, immersive media specialist, 3D animator based in Los Angeles. Starting out as an oil painter, she was quickly drawn to time based art and computer animation. She is a pioneer in using computer animation/art in experimental film work, exhibiting both her paintings and films. A resident artist of Vortex Immersion and c3:Center for Conscious Creativity for the past 6 years she has been creating interactive performances with dance companies and musicians as well as works and performances for fulldome theaters, which have been shown in festivals worldwide. In the past several years she has taken her talents into the creation of VR/AR with the understanding of how 180 and 360 work and play together. She leads the Abstract Media Workshop and the Hybrid Reality Workshop in Los Angeles as well as writing online articles for Intel. She learned many of her animation and technical skills working in the visual effects/entertainment industry in Los Angeles CA. for over 20 years.
The poets who will be reading include:
Molly Bendall
Michelle Bitting
Laurel Ann Bogen
Shonda Buchanan
Elena Karina Byrne
Ramney Campbell
Brendan Constantine
James Cushing
Amy Davis
Kim Dower
Alexis Rhone Fancher
Amelie Frank
Kate Gale
Tanya Ko Hong
James Jones
Traci Kato-Kiriyama
Karen Kevorkian
Tom Laichas
Suzanne Lummis
Sarah Maclay
Holaday Mason
Bill Mohr
Leslie Monsour
Carol Muske-Dukes
Phoebe MacAdams Ozuna
Alicia Portnoy
Beth Ruscio
Andres Sanchez
Brian Sonia-Wallace
Mike Sonksen
Susan Suntree
Lynne Thompson
Jimmy Vega
Pam Ward
Jessica Wilson
Terry Wolvertov
Gail Wronsky
About Bill Mohr